Marc VDS in the Hunt at Four Hours

BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS were running strongly at the 24 Hours of Nürburgring at the four-hour mark. #26, with Dirk Adorf, Nick Catsburg, Augusto Farfus and Jörg Müller was second and #25, of Lucas Luhr, Maxime Martin, Markus Palttala and Richard Westbrook held 13th position.

The race began under grey skies, with Jörg Müller starting #26 from pole position, and Lucas Luhr #25 from sixth. Both cars took a cautious approach, with Müller running as part of a BMW 1-2-3 for much of the first hour and Luhr running on the fringes of the top ten.

A short shower interrupted proceedings a little after the 60 minute mark, and the two cars took differing strategies. Müller remained on slick tyres, and Westbrook – who had taken over from Luhr – stopped for wet tyres. However, for Westbrook it meant an extra stop to return to slick tyres a short time later.

For much of his stint Adorf, driving second in #26, battled for the lead, providing great entertainment for the thousands of fans around the track. The pace of #25, in its quest to recover time lost for the extra stop, was also noteworthy.

As the four-hour mark came to a close, Müller, Adorf and then Catsburg had driven #26, and Luhr, Westbrook and then Palttala #25.

Jörg Müller, BMW Z4 GT3 #26
“It was a fairly good start for me. I knew that I wanted to save some fuel, save the car and not take any major risks and I am happy with how it went. I started pole and handed the car over in first position, so it couldn’t have gone much better really. I stayed on slicks because the track was never completely wet. I was always communicating closely with my engineer to get the latest weather information, and we made a call each lap. Thankfully, it seems to have been the right call.”

Richard Westbrook, BMW Z4 GT3, #25
“We based the call on the radar – and took wet tyres, which was a safe choice. Sometimes you look like a hero, and sometimes it doesn’t work out so well. At such an early stage, we had to make the safer call. The car right now is really good, especially in clean air. I’m really happy with the balance; we’ve got a good race car. I’m not stressed that we’re not right at the top of the times right now.”

Bas Leinders, Team Principal
“Things are going pretty well so far. The pace seems to be good, and I’m very pleased to see both cars still running strongly and without problems. The communication from Jörg during his stint was excellent, and he made a good call to stay on slicks. For the #25, we chose wets, and it turned out to be not such a good call, but these things can go either way in 24-hour racing. There wasn’t too much time lost, and we’re not going to panic about the cars not being P1 and P2 after four hours.”